5 Ways Landmark & Today’s Proposed Merger Will Impact the Sector

This week the industry found out about yet another move towards consolidation in the market. Two of the largest wholesale buying groups, Today’s and Landmark are proposing a merger.

This is a predictable move that is consistent with other changes in the sector and is aimed to strengthen the two businesses for the future trading. Stiff competition and economic uncertainties continue to encourage consolidation discussions in the market.

HIM conduct in-depth research studies in the wholesale and convenience channels and through the shopper and customer behaviour lens we can comment on the impact of the changes on the sector.

1. Not surprisingly value for money is very important to the retailers who are visiting Cash & Carry, especially in the current economic climate. Both Today’s and Landmark wholesale customers are no different. The new merged wholesaler could build on this strong heritage and take this aspect event further for the customers.

2. Just like shoppers in store, retailers visit C&C on different missions, Main Restock and Top Up missions dominate the channel. The new merged wholesaler could improve the offering for customers that are Topping Up but also the those who are on the a Main Restock mission.

3. When we look into the retailer mix of Landmark and Today’s member customers we see that a large proportion of them are unaffiliated retailers. The new merged wholesaler can focus the efforts and provide a best in class service to those customers, who probably feel the pinch of competition as well as changes in the legislation and economic landscape the most.

4. Everybody in the sector is future proofing their businesses and the best way of doing this is by focusing on your younger shopper cohorts, your millennials and generation Z. Lifestyle Express and Today’s are both already over indexing on the younger shoppers, which can be focused on further through the merged efforts.

5. The new merged wholesaler could offer the best in class service to shoppers who are on a newsagent mission, in the areas where it is needed to become a destination shop.